missing out opportunity Morons like chaffer and main stream media (where moron gets their news) are distracting our gov'ts with cnooc-nexen and petronas-progress deals while Canada could be missing out the oil boom like we did on natural gas. It was greed and red tape that prevented the beaufort/mackenzie gas moving down to the US market which gave US time to look for and develop shale gas. If we screw up oil sand sales to asia, canada is farked. We were losing $50 million/day in early 2012, now we are losing $83 million/day because we don't get world oil/gas prices. Do the math, $30 billion/year and counting
Without Pipelines To West Coast, Alberta Oil Prices Could Collapse, Shell Warns
By Pat Roche
Without better access to Asian markets, western Canadian oil could suffer the kind of price collapse that hit North American natural gas, a conference heard.
"It's become, I think, even more urgent than in the past that we get access to tidewater ... tidewater being access to Asia," said Lorraine Mitchelmore, president of Royal Dutch Shell plc's Canadian operations.
With Asia's strong economic growth expected to continue far into the future, there is clear demand for western Canadian oil.
"But what's key is what's happening on the continent right now in supply," said Mitchelmore. "We've seen it happen in gas. In the span of three years, our market in gas virtually dried up.
"So you could see possibly the same kind of thing happening in the oil business now with light tight oil," she continued. "So there's going to be a lot of pressure. [There is] quite a complex marketplace right now with the light oil coming on. And that could put a lot of downward pressure on the prices of our heavy crudes as well."
Mitchelmore was speaking during a panel discussion at a Canadian Council of Chief Executives conference in Calgary on Monday. The topic was accessing new markets for Canadian resource exports. Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to ship Alberta crude to the West Coast for export to Asia is fiercely opposed by environmentalists and native groups, among others.
A proposal to bring Arctic gas to southern markets was bogged down in a regulatory quagmire that lasted for years, and the delay may have killed the project because Americans can get cheaper gas from other sources.
If Canada doesn't ramp up oil and gas exports to Asia within a given timeframe, could Canadian oil and gas producers be shut out of those markets if alternative supplies come onstream first?
"I actually think we've got to do it in this decade, or not long after," said Mitchelmore, noting competitors are already moving ahead.
"In gas, look at what Australia is achieving. Our oilsands investment pales in comparison to LNG investment in Australia. It's less than half. And then Russia is building infrastructure to get to Asia," she said.
The Shell executive warned that unless Canada gets the ball rolling now to develop the infrastructure and relationships for a first-mover advantage in Asia, then this country may be relegated to the role of a bit player.
"And that's what worries me.... We'll have access to the opportunity in the future, but we'll be on the fringes," she said.
Rick George, retired president of Suncor Energy Inc. and another panel member, echoed Mitchelmore's concerns.
"If you look at the gas coming out of the Middle East and the gas coming out of east Africa -- these are massive volumes and the buyers are all well aware of these reserves. So it's our opportunity. If we don't move on that -- and oil -- there's a very good possibility we'll miss that opportunity," George said.
He said the oil and gas industry is Canada's biggest generator of wealth in the form of taxes, royalties, transfer payments and so on. "So what you really risk is a lower standard of living."